I read your article, and absolutely agree that Ukraine does have certain bargaining power in its negotiations with Gazprom. Currently, over 110 billion cubic meters (BCM) of Russian gas exports to the EU are transported via Ukraine, compared with 30 BCM via Belarus. Even the second Yamal-Europe pipeline, which doubles its transit capacity, does not change much, until Gazprom and Poland resolve their differences as to the exact route of the European part of the pipeline.

Nevertheless, politically, it will be harder now for Ukraine to siphon off transit gas to meet its internal demand. Anyway, I am sure that some kind of compromise between Ukraine and Gazprom will be achieved.